For Netflix, 100 million subscribers is a ‘good start’ – The Mercury News

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A Good Start:Well, thats putting it mildly. Those three words, A good start, was how Netflix described its expectations that it will reach 100 million subscribers this weekend.

But before it gets there, Netflix had to deal with Wall Streets reaction to the companys first-quarter results, which included growth in new subscribers that fell shy of Netflixs own forecasts.

By the time the stock markets closed Tuesday, Netflix shares had fallen by 2.6 percent, to $143.36. The main factor in the shares decline was Netflix saying late Monday that it added 4.95 million new subscribers around the world during the first three months of the year, as the company had earlier said it expected to add 5.2 million new paying members during the quarter.

I mean, imagine Netflix not being able to pay for another Adam Sandler movie. You might as well not watch anything at all.

Netflix said its subscriber additions were hampered, in part, by politics. Especially how the new season of its popular political drama House of Cards was pushed into the second quarter of the year. A dark-humored joke going around in the last few months was that Netflix didnt want Cards mendacious protagonist of a president, played by Kevin Spacey, to compete against the headlines and drama coming from the early days of President Donald Trumps administration.

And the quarter on the whole was one that could probably best be called mixed. Netflix earned 40 cents a share on revenue of $2.64 billion, while analysts forecast the company to earn 37 cents a share, on revenue of $2.64 billion. For its current second quarter, Netflix expects to earn 15 cents ashare, which is well short of analysts estimates for a profit of 24 cents a share. But the company also forecast the addition of 3.2 million new subscribers during its second quarter, which blew past the consensus outlook of 2.5 million additions.

With an outlook like that, many analysts say Netflix has plenty of room to grow

There will likely be increasing competition and unforeseen hurdles along the way, said Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson. But, we think Netflix has reached escape velocity. Others may join Netflix on this path, but as the consumer content dollar spend shifts from traditional broadcast to internet delivery, the market should be large enough to support multiple large players.

Middle Innings:

More Office Space: Another day, another Uber executive departs. This time, it was Sherif Marakby, who was the ride-sharing companys vice president of global vehicle programs. Marakby had joined Uber just a year ago, coming over to the company from Ford.Marakbys departure came only a week after Rachel Whetstone quit her job as Ubers head of communications and policy, and is the latest in a seemingly never-ending line of departures of Uber executives who have bolted from the company this year.

Last Call: Yahoo on Tuesday reported what will be its last quarterly results as an independent company, as Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said Yahoos $4.48 billion sale to Verizon will be completed in June. You could call it a bittersweet end for the company that was once synonymous with the internet. Yahoo reported earnings of 10 cents a share on $1.3 billion in revenue, which topped analysts estimates for a profit of 5 cents a share on sales of $1.23 billion. Mayer is also expected to leave the Yahoo shortly after the Verizon acquisition is finalized.

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Heres a look at how some leading Silicon Valley stocks did Tuesday

Movin on Up:Gains came from YuMe, Lending Club, InvenSense, Gigamon and Cadence Design Systems.

In the Red:Decliners included Barracuda Networks, ShoreTel, Super Micro Computer, 88 and Finisar.

The tech-focusedNasdaq Composite Index slippedby 0.1 percent to 5,849.47.

The blue chipDow Jones Industrial Averagegave up 0.6 percent to finish the day at 20,523.28.

And the broad-basedStandard & Poors 500 Indexended the day down by 0.3 percent at 2,341.19.

Quote of the Day:Were going to make the camera the first augmented reality platform. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the companys annual F8 developer conference in San Jose on Tuesday.

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For Netflix, 100 million subscribers is a 'good start' - The Mercury News